Driven: Audi A1 Sportback

25 January 2012Matt Campbell

Knocking Mini off its premium hatchback perch in Australia in 2011 was not enough for Audi's A1.

The A1 outsold the BMW-owned Mini Cooper trendsetter by 146 units (or nearly nine per cent) last year, and the German brand will soon introduce a five-door variant of its pint-sized premium hatch that it expects will increase its winning margin further.

Due on sale in June, the new five-door A1 Sportback will offer a more practical alternative to the raft of premium hatchbacks on the market such as Alfa Romeo's MiTo, Citroen's DS3 and Fiat's 500, all of which are currently available in three-door only.

The new model has seen a minor increase to its roofline to add extra headroom in the rear seat, while the front doors have been shortened by 24 centimetres to allow a set of rear doors to be fitted.

Aside from the extra doors, visual cues include the option of a different roof colour (the three-door only had the option of different coloured roof sills), while there's also a new orange paint scheme, known as Samoa Orange, that is unique to the five-door model.

Sportback

Obviously, getting into the back is far easier in the Sportback, and it definitely feels roomier than the regular A1, too. It's hardly what you'd call spacious, but anyone shy of six-feet-tall will be comfortable.

Audi is also going to add a middle seat to the Sportback, which further increases the usability of the car, if only for short jaunts rather than longer trips as the back bench is rather cramped for width.

Audi Australia cannot yet confirm whether the more practical new model will cost buyers more over the three-door version, but going by VW Group logic buyers should expect the extra practicality to cost them a little extra cash. For example, UK buyers must fork out an extra £560 ($835) for the five-door.

Engine offerings will mirror the current A1 hatch line-up, with both petrol and diesel variants available.

The diesel is the familiar 1.6-litre turbocharged unit as seen in the Polo and A1, with 66kW of power and 230Nm of torque and an ultra frugal fuel consumption figure of just 3.8L/100km (for the seven-speed S-Tronic dual-clutch auto model) and emissions of just 99g/km.

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The petrol models will include an entry-level 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with 90kW/200Nm and the more powerful turbo- and supercharged 1.4-litre with 136kW and 250Nm as seen in the A1 Sport (there's no word yet on whether the five-door version will be known as the Sportback Sport).

We spent some time in the latter and found it to be just as entertaining as its three-door sibling.

The steering is one of the highlights of the high-performance A1, with superb weighting, excellent feel and entertaining feedback for the driver though sharp chicanes.

The body doesn't lean through corners despite the extra few millimetres of height and the 25 additional kilograms of weight, and the ride was exceptionally good over a mixture of surfaces, albeit ones smooth enough to put Australian roads to shame.

There is some slight tyre roar through the cabin, and some booming through the cabin from the rear of the car, but the delightful roar of the engine offsets it nicely.

It's a peach of powerplant, with linear power delivery and plenty of torque low down thanks to the supercharger, which is taken over from by the turbocharger at higher revs, allowing it to sing to 7000 rpm without any quibbles.

We also spent some time in a model at the opposite end of the engine spectrum, the 1.2-litre turbo petrol, which produces just 63kW of power and 160Nm of torque.

Despite those seemingly low outputs, it was a treat to drive, with smooth acceleration and enough push to suit the needs of most everyday commuters. It sounded great, too.

Its road manners were exceptional, and from driver's seat you'd be hard-pressed to know that you weren't driving the three-door A1.

The 1.2-litre model boasts a claimed fuel use figure of just 5.1L/100km, but is currently only available with a five-speed manual transmission, and unfortunately for Australian buyers that could rule it out - a real shame.

If it were to make it to Oz, however, it would likely be positioned as the price-leading variant for the Sportback range. Just don't expect it to be part of the line-up when the car goes on sale mid-year.

All in all, the A1 Sportback makes what was an already good premium hatchback even better - and, provided Audi Australia gets the pricing right for the new five-door model, the A1's lead over the Mini Cooper could well be extended in 2012.